Mother of God Vatopediou

Or Panagia Paramythia, the all-holy one who gives comfort; originally from the Vatopediou monastery on Mount Athos.

In the north of Greece the region of Chalkidiki stretches into the Aegean sea like a hand with three peninsulas as its fingers. A long range of hills, close on sixty kilometres long, the most northerly peninsula ends in an impressive mountain, a little more than two thousand metres high, Mount Athos, to many Eastern Christians better known under the Greek name of "Agios Oros", - Holy Mountain.

In this peninsula there are 20 Orthodox monasteries. Today these monasteries house about 2000 monks. The second most important of these monasteries is the Vatopediou monastery. It is here that we find the icon of the Mother of God, she who gives joy and comfort.

Athos, the monks’ republic

Though there is a Russian, a Serbian and a Bulgarian monastery - the others are Greek - every monk is a Greek citizen. In 1912 the Holy Mountain was occupied by the Greek army. The place Karyes became the centre of the monks’ republic. In the spiritual field Mount Athos falls under the administration of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The mountain is governed by the Holy Community, consisting of representatives of the twenty monasteries. The sale of icons and objects of art is forbidden. In accordance with an agelong custom nothing female is permitted to enter the Holy Mountain. Besides the twenty monasteries there are twelve so-called sketes. These may have the appearance of a monastery but they may also be cave dwellings. In them live, as in early Christian times, hermits, alone or with a pupil.

The spirituality on the Holy Mountain

The spirituality is influenced by the landscape. The Athos peninsula is one of the most beautiful Greek landscapes: a lot of green, almost completely covered with woods, the deep blue sea present everywhere, and the majestic summit of Athos. God’s nearness is felt here. Another aspect is the liturgy. As the Orthodox see this, in the liturgy people try to bring "heaven on earth" Every twenty-four hours seven to eight hours are spent on the liturgy. Finally there are the icons, also called "windows on heaven". The monasteries of the Holy Mountain preserve the largest collection of icons in the world, miraculous icons, surrounded with a good many legends, myths and miracles. Hence romanticism is also seen as part of the spirituality of Mount Athos.

The Holy Mountain today

Round 1912 there lived nine to ten thousand monks there. Since the millennium celebration in 1963 Athos has adapted itself more and more to modern times. From the little port of Daphni to the capital city of Karyes a paved road was built, with a bus connection between these two towns. The telephone made its appearance, just like electricity, fax and computer. You can say there is a mixture of old and very new. From the mid-Seventies of the twentieth century young people with a more or less academic education come to Athos to begin an ascetic life there. Recently a start was made with the registration and description of the about twenty thousand icons that are in the possession of the Holy Mountain. They also started the restoration of icons. Not everybody is enthusiastic about this modernisation, but the hermit in his cave dwelling does keep his oil lamp and will regularly say: "Lord Jesus, Son of the loving God, have mercy on me".

The Vatopediou monastery

On a bay, at a distance of three hours from Karyes, lies the impressive monastery Vatopediou. It looks like a castle, a fortress, and all kinds of legends are told about its origin. It was probably founded in the second half of the tenth century. At the moment there live fifty monks in the monastery.

The lettering of the icon

At the top left and right we see the abbreviation of ‘Mother of God’. At the bottom on the right the abbreviation of ‘Jesus Christ’ and down below the title of the icon: ‘Joy or Comfort of the Mother of God’.

This contemporary icon was written in 2002/2003 by Ank Landwier_Boonekamp, on an MDF panel measuring 20 x 24 x 2,5, covered with povoloka, and for the rest in accordance with the original Old Russian technique of iconography: with egg tempera (pigment powder) and champagne chalk.